Science and the Gaelic sports: Gaelic football and hurling

Abstract

The two major sports indigenous to Ireland are Gaelic football and hurling. Both are 15-a-side field games played on a pitch 40% longer than a soccer field. They are firmly linked to a nationalist tradition and have by far the highest participation rates in sports in the country. Both games make multiple demands on participants due to their free-flowing nature and quick movement of play from end to end of the pitch. Hurling calls for hand–eye coordination and skilled use of the hurling stick in hitting and blocking the ball. Fitness characteristics mirror game demands. Participants at elite level in both games display high aerobic power, the footballers tending to be stronger in the upper body and better in vertical jumping. Gaelic footballers in particular match the fitness characteristics of professional soccer players, except for sprinting speed. Less attention has been paid to female participants, especially in camogie, the female version of hurling. Despite their amateur status, and due to the popularity of the sports and the training regimens adopted by players, the games have garnered sports science support systems for elite performers. Support personnel benefit from a generic knowledge base as well as a burgeoning research agenda targeted at the Gaelic games.     

Sport injuries as the main cause of sport career termination among Finnish top-level athletes

Abstract

Injuries are common among athletes, and are sometimes so severe that they affect an athlete's career in sport. As studies on sport career termination are few, we conducted a study to investigate the role of injuries as a reason for ending a sport career. The study group consisted of 574 male and female top-level cross-country skiers, swimmers, long-distance runners and soccer players who responded to a retrospective postal questionnaire in 2006. Twenty-seven athletes (4.9%, 27/548) reported ending their sport career because of injury. A follow-up interview was conducted by telephone in 2007 (n=20 volunteered to be interviewed) to confirm sport career termination and the reasons for this. Fifteen of the interviewed athletes terminated and five continued their sport on the same level as earlier. Female athletes (12/15) terminated their sport career more frequently than male athletes (3/15). Athletes who reported terminating their sport career because of injury were on average two and a half years older (24.1 years vs. 21.6 years, P=0.006) than athletes who continued the sport. All the swimmers (n=5) who were interviewed terminated their career because of a shoulder injury. All the soccer players who ended their career (n=4) were female and had a severe knee injury, such as anterior cruciate ligament injury. Most of the athletes who terminated their sport career (70.4%, 19/27) reported that the injury caused them mild or moderate permanent disability. We found that sports injuries play a significant role in terminating a career in sport, and in some sports events injuries may commonly be the main reason for sport career termination. Injury prevention and adequate treatment and rehabilitation of injuries are thus essential to avoid the long-term consequences of severe sport injuries.     

The Amplification and De-Amplification of Amateurism and Professionalism in the Gaelic Athletic Association

In this paper we explain how and why a specific ethos of amateurism was portrayed and embodied by various groups comprising the Gaelic Athletic Association in Ireland throughout its history. Interestingly, the discourse pertaining to amateurism has at times been de-amplified, instead being superseded by the vilification of professionalism. Since the 1970s, both amateurism and professionalism have been imbued with new meanings and interpretations by different social groups comprising the organisation. In tandem with this, both the discourses of professionalism and amateurism have been increasingly amplified. We explain how the structure of competitive and cooperative interdependencies, the we-identifications, tensions and insecurities generated by these, between groups at different levels of integration – social class, national, inter-organisational and intra-organisational – underpin these social developments.     

Ancient Greek ‘Amateurism’, the NCAA and the Courts

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has recently been the target of many lawsuits challenging its definition and regulation of amateurism, which it holds as providing unique moral and social benefits for both its scholar-athletes and society at large. This conception of amateurism is inherited from nineteenth-century models of ancient Greek athletics via figures such as John Mahaffy and E.N. Gardiner. This influence is evident in legal cases involving the NCAA or athletics in general, and hence amateurism is cited by judges and others as a long-standing Western cultural tradition which encourages moral and social development. This is problematic, however, as not only is it historically questionable, but also the citation of cultural heritage in legal dicta has seen legal criticism or reversal.     

论精武粤传的成因与意义

精武粤传的成因主要是社团自身发展的需要,北派武术具有的文化势能,广州等岭南城市优越的地理位置和精武体育会中粤人的人力优势。此举成功地将北派武术精华传播到了南粤大地,大规模地促进了中国南北武术文化的深度交流和融合,推动了岭南武术和体育事业的发展进程,使精武海外传播成为可能。     

Power laws and athletic performance

In a previous study,we showed that the 1992 men's world record running times in the 100 m to 200 km could be represented accurately by the equation T= cDn, where T is the calculated record time for distance D, and c and n are positive constants. Here, we extend that to cover the years 1925-65 at 10-year intervals and 1970-95 in 5-year intervals for distances of 100 m to 10 km. Values of n for all years lie along a straight line with a small negative slope. A regression analysis yields an equation for values of n covering the period 1925-95. Values of c from 1925 to 1995 were fitted by a quadratic equation. These two equations define a surface in three-dimensional space log(T), log(D), date for all men's world record runs over the 70-year period for distances of 100 m to 10 km. We also demonstrated previously that event times, t, do not scatter randomly with respect to the values of T but form a consistent pattern about the straight lines in log(T) versus log(D) plots. In this study, we show that the pattern of (t-T)/t as a function of date has remained constant for the past 70 years.     

竞技龙狮运动发展过程中存在的问题及对策研究

中国竞技龙狮运动的发展还处于初级阶段。虽然十几年的发展取得了辉煌的成就,但是在与之相关的人才培养、训练、教学、竞赛、科研以及市场开发等问题中还存在诸多不足。针对这一瓶颈,在中国传统体育复兴的历史背景下,文章对中国竞技龙狮运动的内涵、发展、存在问题进行了细致的调查与研究,并提出走可持续发展道路的建议和对策。     

中华全国体育协进会体育慈善活动述论(1924—1949)

对中华全国体育协进会的体育慈善活动、特点及影响进行了梳理与总结。民国时期,作为民间体育组织的中华全国体育协进会出于强烈的社会责任感,在开展同业救济的同时,亦在力所能及的情况下,积极主办或协办自然灾害救济,抗战募捐,赞助卫生、教育、体育事业等社会公益活动。中华全国体育协进会以体育为载体,通过举办体育慈善比赛、体育慈善拍卖等方式来开展公益活动。这些公益活动不仅有助于扩大中华全国体育协进会的社会影响力,增强体育界的凝聚力,而且还进一步丰富了体育的内涵,推动了中国近代体育的发展。     

Young,talented and injured: Injury perceptions,experiences and consequences in adolescent elite athletes

Even though injury is common in elite sports, there is still a lack of knowledge of young athletes’ injury perception both during and after injury. The aim of this mixed-method study was, therefore, to explore, in-depth, data on injury consequences and adolescent elite athletes’ perceptions and experience of injury. Three hundred and forty adolescent elite athletes (age range 15–19), from 16 different sports, were bi-weekly monitored over 52 weeks using a valid questionnaire. Twenty athletes from the same cohort were interviewed in focus groups about injury experience and perceptions. The results show that the average bi-weekly prevalence of injury was 38.7% (95% CI 37.3–40.1), with 30.0% (n?=?102) of the athletes injured for more than half of all reporting times. An overarching theme from the focus groups highlighted the risk among young athletes of a loss of identity while injured. The findings support several suggestions that may improve the rehabilitation process and enhance rehabilitation outcomes: (a) provide clear pathways to the medical team, (b) recognize the identity loss, (c) involve the injured athletes with the rest of the teammates and (d) educate athletes about how to interpret pain signals. Future research should explore and evaluate the effectiveness and generalization of such interventions.     

体育概念之探讨

采用文献资料、逻辑分析等研究方法,较全面地综述了国内外学者关于体育概念的基本观点,并对其进行了逻辑学分析,最后提出了作者自己的观点